'I'm using my body heat to warm you..'
(Emmy Rossum, The Day After Tomorrow)

Okay, one last category, because it needs to be told on new year's eve: best kiss goes to In Search of a Midnight Kiss (2007, Alex Holdridge), happening at the one and only perfect moment. Donnie Darko is a close second, which leads us to today's list. Family, music, Dutch, favourite female company, best food and certainly depression might be called upon for an afterparty. No promises, no expectations however. If anything, this month of writing has taught me again to only do whatever I can, relatively brief silent contemplation will provide more information on the path this website will take.

10. Todo Todo Teros
(2006, John Torres)

A patchwork quilt of thoughts and feelings, Todo Todo Teros is as close to a dream cinema will get, obviously very personal yet global. It's like waking up and suddenly realizing you are in love with someone, you're an artist, a terrorist, all interconnected by poetry. A digicam follows lovely guide Olga around Berlin, where humble director John Torres was invited for a film festival. Warm images, voice-over and on-screen text start blurring privacy.
 

9. Verboden te Zuchten
(I Know I'll See Your Face Again, 2001, Alex Stockman)

'Sighing Prohibited' is a lot less dull sounding literal translation, but black and white Belgian masterpiece Verboden te Zuchten hardly made it past the borders anyway. Wandering through a capital, Joris doesnt look particularly shiny happy, he's bathng in melancholia and waving farewell. Several interesting people are met à la Naked, leading to sad girl with a backpack Luzie. Mesmerizing soundtrack, magnificent cinematograpy, real life.
 

8. Keeping the Faith
(2000, Edward Norton)

There's always something so tragic about a hopeless romantic, especially his most played movie of the decade, a comrom no one seems to admire THIS much. Keeping the Faith is not the joke of a priest and a rabbi, but a tale of friendship, religion, workaholism, celibacy, trading cards and cell phones, with a supporting cast to wet your pants. Norton knows his classics and comes close to territory ruled by Capra. Love is a choice.
 

7. One Fine Spring Day
(Bomnaleun ganda, 2001, Jin-ho Hur)

Cute, but so much more than that: One Fine Spring Day captures the spirit of being in love perfectly, from first giggles to inevitable scars. It's about as basic as a relationship can be: two people meet at work. However, Sang-woo and Eun-su are recordists of endangered nature sounds, ensuring beautiful landscapes as well. What lifts this Korean gem even more above similar stories, is the appearance of a grandmother who understands neverending loss.
 

6. Donnie Darko
(2001, Richard Kelly)

Cult hit for an entire generation, which bends the definition of such a description at least as much as this film bends time. Eighties get the respect they deserve, mental pain is taken seriously, including righteous retaliation upon a sick society. Swayze, Barrymore and many others support Donnie Darko in his mindsmurfing quest for notorious redemption. It's the end of the world for everyone who is sleepwalking through life.
 

5. Dancer in the Dark
(2000, Lars Von Trier)

What to write about a film so powerful that when only thinking about it for a second, deeply hidden tears immediately rise to the surface? Honestly not one film has ever had this kind of impact before, after all these years Dancer in the Dark still is hard to grasp. It could be considered horror, but it's a musical. It should be the best film of the decade, but it's beyond too hard to bear. Innocence and empathy get slaughtered here, melodies remain.
 

4. Lost in Translation
(2003, Sofia Coppola)

Whispering whisky and modern exercise form the background for two imsomniacs feeling foreign. Always tired and always distant, the nameless disease of today. Lost in Translation has grown to be best nightcap of the decade, dismissing every slumbering doubt on age difference and black toe. Still hate karaoke, but it's one of those very necessary signs of the time, adding to the stylish absurdity. We're not hopeless.
 

3. Bluebird
(2004, Mijke de Jong)

This quality Dutch television drama crushed my belief in coincidence, nailing all trauma down to very specific details, including the names. It's about bullied (check) Merel (my name had I been born a girl) and her brother Kasper (my brother's name), written by some Helena (my mother). My loneliest moment ever involved leaving Hoek van Holland on a ferry, which is present while the movie's title is explained. And I wore all black when meeting Bluebird's director. So long, objectivity.
 

2. Free Zone
(2005, Amos Gitai)

Riding in cars with women, through the burning heart of the world, to a safe place presumably. Natalie Portman (born in Jerusalem) cries for many minutes, after which she mutters some words in Hebrew, it is clear from the start this is no Hollywood fare. Hana Laszlo and Hiam Abbass join her in a summary of the current global stalemate, it's hopeless and dreary. Irreconcilable differences, with a song as short relief.
 

1. The Good Life
(2007, Stephen Berra)

Illusion and disappointment, followed by more illusion and disappointment, for probably the kindest person she's ever met. This film makes suicide understandable. Drawing a final breath while watching a classic movie in an old theatre must be the best way to go. Hang on though, there's more to the grey gardens and sepia streets than initially meets the eye. The Good Life can be found in little things. Oh, and Zooey.
 

'he feels of all things that people should forget, old movies aren't one of them..'
 

(Menni, untamed.nl 2009)